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[ Aetat. 34-36 ] J O Y C EIt's Mr Dooley,Mr Dooley,The wildest wag our country ever knew'O my poor tummyHis backside gummy!'Moans Mr Dooley-ooley-ooley-oo.Who is the tranquil gentleman who won't salute the StateOr serve Nebuchadnezzar or proletariatBut thinks that every son of man has quite enough to doTo paddle down the stream of life his personal canoe?It's Mr Dooley,Mr Dooley,The wisest wight our country ever knew'Poor Europe amblesLike sheep to shambles'Sighs Mr Dooley-ooley-ooley-oo. 66If Mr Dooley's anarchism was peculiar to Joyce, his indifference to thewar's outcome was common enough among Irishmen, some of whomwere conducting their own war against the British. But it was hardlycalculated to make him popular among English officials. ConsequentlyBennett, known to his colleagues as 'Pompous Percy,' 67treated Joyce inan offhand and superior way until needled by him after which he lapsedinto silence and pretended to be looking for something thrown by mistakeinto his wastepaper basket. Joyce began the process of immortalizing Bennett,which he would complete in Ulysses, by enshrining him and thebasket in a limerick:There's an anthropoid consul called Bennett,With the jowl of a jackass or jennet,He must muzzle or mask itIn the waste paper basket,When he rises to bray in the Senate.He wrested from Bennett, however, official approval for the Players. 68Meanwhile Sykes was piecing together a cast. There were not manyprofessional English actors in Zurich, but he turned up Evelyn Cottonand one or two others. An important find was Tristan Rawson, a handsomeman who had sung baritone roles for four years in the CologneOpera House but had never acted in a play. After much coaxing, Rawsonagreed to take on the role of John Worthing in The Importance of BeingEarnest. He became the company's principal actor. Sykes recruited CecilPalmer as the butler, and found a woman named Ethel Turner to playMiss Prism. Mrs. Turner had been married three times, and Joyce composeda rhyme about her that began,This is the Turner that turned aboutAnd turned six husbands inside out. 69